South Essex train operator Trenitalia c2c will be doubling the number of direct daytime off-peak services between Southend and London during the half term holidays.
The trial scheme from Tuesday 1 June will see four trains an hour run between Southend and London via Basildon during the daytime, rather than the half-hourly service that has been in place since the start of the pandemic. This will add nearly 15,000 seats each day to allow families to take advantage of the expected hot weather and the recent easing of lockdown restrictions.
c2c Managing Director Ben Ackroyd said: “We know how important it is to have excellent links to London, to make it easy for families to get up to the capital or down to the coast during the school holidays. We’re all hoping the promised sunshine will arrive, and plenty of businesses will be very keen to see more customers return – and we’re no exception.”
“We are trialling this extra capacity over the half-term holidays, to discover how much demand for rail travel there is. If this trial is a success, we’ll look to repeat the capacity boost over the summer holidays as well.”
Full details of each day’s timetable during half term are available online at: https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/our-network/timetables-and-service-alterations/.